Golem News And "Running For Congress To The Left Of Obama A Letter To Mary Moore

Running for Congress to the left of Obama Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012

Dear Mary, I do not doubt that Norman is sincere in his personal politics about Occupied Palestine, and the IPA is, indeed, a fine information resource on that and many other issues. In Marin-Sonoma, however, it is obvious that being tagged as "pro-Palestinian" would present a fundraising problem for any Congressional candidate. Unfortunately, that means that when it comes time to run for RE-ELECTION in two years, it will still be a fundraising problem. So it is very unlikely that Norman will take a strong stance on the Middle East while in Congress, such as calling for defunding the Israeli military, or upholding the UN's 1967 mandate against settlements, or protesting the Israeli murder of peace activists (since he did not raise his voice last year when such protest was really needed).

Political courage means having the guts to resist the status quo, to support the unpopular issues (usually issues of life and death importance to oppressed people). As the Chron article points out there is not much difference between any of these candidates on many issues: so it is not an act of political courage in our district to oppose Vampire Squids and the current wars on Iraq and Afghanistan (just common sense, in fact).

Reading through the issues section of Normnan's web site, I find that I applaud most of his stands. But then comes the rub: "I support a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, with genuine security for all." This is the standard AIPAC-lite line: two-states means continuation of the current oppressor state/oppressed state model. It means eating away at at what remains of Palestinian lands with more illegal settlements. It means exploiting Palestinian labor and invading Palestinan-populated concentration camps using the doctrine of collective punishment as a brutal rationale for bulldozing houses, shooting children and adults with American-made fighter jets and depleted uranium bullets, blockading food and medicine, ad infinitum. It means the continuation of hell on earth for these poor people, and it is mealy-mouthed politics to pretend that there is a such a thing as a genuine two-state solution as long as America hands Israel $3 billion a year to squash the Palestinians and wave its nukes at the Iranians and arm right wing dictators around the globe.

So: one has to decide whether or not to vote for Norman (or anyone of these folks), considering that they are either political cowards on Palestine or satisfied with the status quo. Can one in good conscience vote for Norman (or publicly support him) because he is good on just about all of the other issues? Well, there is no guarantee that he will actually push forward on those issues if he is spiritually constituted to value his own (re)election above taking unpopular stances on the really hard issues. There is no guarantee that he will not just be another cog in the Democrat Party War Machine. If he was to take a courageous position on Occupied Palestine, I would be inclined to believe that such courage would extend to other issues, too, and I would walk precincts for him. But I am distressed by Norman's suggestion that we should (wink, wink) "trust" him to do the right thing on Palestine because of his past writings. And I can't forget his support of Candidate Obama when Obama was clearly funded by the War Machine and Wall Street.

Actions do speak louder than words. And the take home lesson here may be that Norman values winning the election above publicly supporting the liberation of the Palestian people in such a way that would at least draw attention to the issue and help a just cause. Without monetary and political support from American congresspeople, including Woolsey, the Israeli state would not be able to continue is veritible pogram on the Palestinians, since a half century of this oppression disgusts most people in the world.

It would be honorable to lose an election because of one's support for the oppressed. It is not honorable to win high office on their backs. The Democractic Party cannot be "reformed" in a way that is acceptable to life on Earth, anymore than Chevron can be reformed to be "green". We need new parties, new organizations from the grassroots. We need people who demonstrate courage through action, not by trying to climb aboard the neck of the imperial juggarnaut which currently rules this country (and much of the world). A single mouse cannot put a bit into the jaw of a dinosaur and cause it to halt. But a million mice can.

Let us put our efforts into organizing the millions (or, locally, the dozens), not into perpetuating the historic crime against the Palestinians by putting faith in the unspoken promises of politicians. Power corrupts, it seems, even in the seeking of it. I will vote in this election: On my ballot, I will write in the name of a living Palestian child.